DCCC preps $32M TV ad blitz

POLITICO has learned that the House Democratic campaign arm is reserving more than $32 million in broadcast TV advertising after Labor Day, the first real signal of the party’s strategy for winning back control of the House.

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The ad buy, the earliest in Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee history, stretches from the Northeast to the Mountain West and covers dozens of congressional districts in 14 states — most of them key presidential battlegrounds.

A strategist familiar with the buy said that with presidential candidates, outside interest groups and well-funded super PACs poised to unleash an unprecedented flood of ads, the committee wanted to lock in TV advertising early, before inventory is bought out and rates become more expensive. Operatives from both parties say they expect ad prices to skyrocket by summer.

Democrats, in particular, can’t afford to wait. While the party has been successful in keeping pace in fundraising with the National Republican Congressional Committee — the DCCC outraised the House GOP campaign arm last year despite being in the minority — the NRCC heads into the final seven months of the campaign with $4 million more cash on hand.

According to the latest Federal Election Commission figures, the NRCC had $27.1 million cash on hand through the end of March, compared with $22.8 million for the Democrats.

Democrats say the purchase by the DCCC’s independent expenditure arm is just a first investment — money can be moved or added later. Still, there is a sense of urgency to their efforts, driven by the uphill climb confronting the party, particularly in the wake of a redistricting round that solidified the GOP majority.

Democrats need to net 25 seats to retake the House but a gain of that many seats has occurred just six times in the past 20 election cycles — and just once in a presidential election year.

And House Republicans will benefit from a cast of cash-flush outside groups determined to keep the party in the majority. One of those groups, the Congressional Leadership Fund, recently received a $5 million donation from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. While Democrats have several groups that are poised to play a role in House races, party strategists say they don’t believe those outfits will have as much to spend as their GOP counterparts.